“The closer we get, the more hungry we become”

They hardly slept in their own beds as they remembered Monday that was declared the Eurovision Act for March.

“It’s definitely a number,” said singer Holly-Anne Hull, trying to calculate the nights she spent at home. “We don’t have time to do that.”

Instead, they took a whirlwind tour of Europe, met with fans, filmed endless tiktoks, and performed their song “What the hell happened” to anyone who would like to listen.

If they are tired, it won’t show up. The country pop threes – Lauren Byrne, Holly-Anne Hull and Charlotte Steele – are chatty, excited and focused on fun, for good reason.

They were founded in the school ten years ago and have been together for a long time, in their words, “no one is listening.”

Even after successfully turning on the sound in 2019, Charlotte had to return to her job as an associate teacher, while Lauren and Holly-Anne appeared in the West End show in the operas Phantom and Six: Musical.

Eurovision offers an opportunity to change this. They headed to Basel, Switzerland this week in hopes of erasing memories of Olly Alexander and Mae Muller, both finished at the bottom of the table.

Remember Monday’s song is a certified explosion – full of shimmering thriving and shocking harmonies (critical) they can achieve in real time.

Just before they head to the European island, we sat down with the three to discuss resignation, overcoming phobia and the terrible “nul point”.

It’s been eight weeks since you were declared an entry into the UK’s Eurovision Network…

Charlotte: No, it’s impossible. It feels like six years!

How many miles did you hold at that time?

Lauren: Honestly, I feel bad about our carbon footprint.

Charlotte: The truth is, I’m a nervous flyer. I always wear eye masks and headphones to avoid looking out the window. Then we had to grab the propeller plane from Reykjavik, Iceland, and the whole thing swayed on the side as it took off.

Lauren: It’s really dangerous… But, Charlotte’s next EasyJet flight is like “What a breeze.”

Charlotte: I’m smiling and talking. It’s like I’ve been cured!

When I first heard what was going on, I thought it sounded like six: a musical…and then I found out that you were actually already inside.

Lauren: That’s me! I’m Jane Seymour. She was the dead man, not beheaded.

Is it always planned to add the vibe of musicals to this song?

Lauren: We wrote a sentence for this song, with many references: Bohemian Rhapsody, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter.

But we also say, “Let’s not be afraid to write a popular version of the resistance to gravity.” We want it to have all the epic drama and drama and the western end tip you don’t get in pop music.

You wrote 15 songs in total. What is rejection like?

Holly-Anne: There are some we will definitely keep [for our album] But there is another one called Achilles high heels that go straight to the trash can.

Charlotte and Lauren [singing]: Achilles, how do you feel? How about your heels, Achilles?

Holly Anne [cringing]: We have been writing for three weeks and I think we are starting to dream about it!

This reminds me of Ed Sheeran’s words about songwriting: A faucet must run brown before brown is clear.

Charlotte: It’s so real, and it’s interesting that the day before the expiration is the last song we wrote. We are going to get to the point of “let us go 100% on every idea”.

Holly-Anne: We think we have four to five European TV songs. Then, this comes up and we’re like “Okay, all of this is defeated”.

Can you tell me about your performance?

Holly-Anne: We come from a theater background, so it will definitely be dramatic. We want to give that girl band, concert feels like you step into the world of memory on Monday.

There is a line in the song about tearing off clothes. Is that a sneaky bubble reference?

Lauren: Oh, my goodness! Assume that is. We didn’t take that into consideration…but if the shoes fit!

Charlotte: There are a lot of Easter eggs in the lyrics about our friendship. We spent a lot of nights, ending in a tattoo hall or losing shoes somehow.

Do you remember the first time you met?

Holly-Anne: It’s impossible to say because we’re in the same sixth form, but in the first year we were in different classes.

Lauren: I remember Charlotte taking class and singing from the parade.

Charlotte [singing]:”You don’t know this maaan. ”

Holly-Anne: Then, the next year, we all took the same performing arts class and we were like “Oh, let’s sing together.”

When you graduate, everyone has full-time jobs – so how did you bring the band together?

Charlotte: We always have a break on Mondays…so, the name of the band.

Holly-Anne: It’s so important for us to keep the band alive that we never let it die.

Charlotte: Once, Holly went on a year tour and we flew to Singapore so we could be together.

Lauren: At that time, maybe 18 months ago, we quit our full-time job.

Charlotte: We think we will always regret it if we don’t throw everything in right now.

It’s your resignation letter, such as “I want to be a Star! ‘?

Lauren: Well, Holly and I were in the theater, so we just didn’t renew the contract and Charlotte was actually the vice principal.

Charlotte: Head is one of my closest friends, and a lot of kids have seen us on the show – so everyone knows it will happen. It’s just a matter of time.

Are you ready for the overwhelming European TV Week?

Lauren: Yes, but we are very good at immersing ourselves in our work.

Charlotte: Even if there is no bubble around us, the three of us will be bubbled. Even if we are not together, Eurovision is what we are talking about.

Lauren: Then I’m sure we’re going to have a lot of downtime starting May 18th.

Holly-Anne: Comedown will be rough.

What hope do you have for the results?

Holly-Anne: We do have a preference. And I think the closer we get to it, the more hungry we get. The unit position will be very good.

You have a lot of summer scheduled holiday shows – so life won’t stop after that.

Lauren: True. In fact, every experience we have before May 17, which is also Eurovision.

Charlotte: All the places we have been to and the people we meet – literally, it’s like a girl’s vacation.

Holly-Anne: Even if we get zero points, even in my living room, we still sing together.

What memories will you gain from it?

Lauren: I will always remember the feeling of finding us representing Britain. We’ve been around for a long time and we have a lot of “Noes” as bands, so when we auditioned we thought it would be another one. “Thank you very much, but we’re going in another direction.”

So, finally getting “yes” over the years and then starting to live, is this the real dream of your two best friends? I will never forget that phone call.